Jasper, Lapis, Peridot and Steven
by Mew Shadowfang
Summary: Another MomSwap or CrystalSwap, like a bunch of other stories here, right? Nope! We're gonna do it, my way! Get ready for a heck lotta canon diversion, cause that's the only way to do things. 10 Chapters, 2 Shorts. I apologize for the wait, but I've lost the inspiration. Currently on indefinite hiatus (that has lasted so long, I'm sorry T-T).
1. Gem Shield

Steven woke up with the sun in his face. He sat up, yawned, and walked down the wooden steps of his room to his bathroom to get ready for the day. When he came out of his bathroom, however, things were way different then when he had entered.

For one, the house was filled large black and green bugs that resembled centipedes.

"Steven, duck!" A voice shouted. Steven crouched down just before one of the bugs flew through the air, sailing right where he had been a few moments ago. A blue gem came flying directly after, with water-y wings on her back. The gem, called Lapis, punched the bug and it disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"Steven, are you alright?" She asked. The boy nodded. "What's happening?" He asked, just as a large orange gem jumped into view, fending off several bugs at once. Lapis didn't have time to answer as one of the bugs leaped for her. Steven watched her wrestle with it until the orange gem pulled it off her. "Thanks Jasper," Lapis said before flying back into battle.

"A corrupted gem infestation. We don't know where they came from, but they're clearly hostile." Another voice said almost robotically. Steven turned to see Peridot, with her floating fingers positioned into a blaster.

The green gem then got a shining look in her eyes. "DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE!" She screeched out maniacally as her blaster rapid-fired. Most of the blasts hit their targets, but a few ended up as holes in the wall instead.

Steven became aware of the fact that he was just standing there doing nothing. The last of the bugs spotted him and reared up, spraying acidic goop from its mouth. Before Steven could do anything, a pair of arms lifted him up and away from the acid while Jasper punched bug hard enough to instantly poof it.

"Are you ok, Steven?" Jasper asked as Lapis put him down.

"I'm fine. What were those things?"

"They're Centipeetles, but it seems that they are not actual gems, since they didn't leave any behind." Peridot observed in the background. "There's going to be a mother creature coming soon." The other two gems nodded in agreement.

Steven looked through one of the holes Peridot created. "Uh, guys?"

"Not now, Steven." Peridot reprimanded gently.

"But guys, I think those things are coming back."

"WHAT?!" All three of the gems rushed out to confront the monster. Steven ran after them. "Hey, wait for Steven!" He called after them.

On the beach, Steven saw that the three gems were already fighting the biggest bug Steven had ever seen. Then again, Steven didn't get a lot of chances to see the monsters the gems fight.

Lapis was standing on the ground using giant water hands to wrestle with the Centipeetle Mother while Jasper was on its head and raining blows down. Peridot was busy trying to keep the smaller versions, which were swarming around the Centipeetle Mother, from distracting Lapis, but it clearly wasn't working since she didn't want to accidentally hit Lapis with one of her energy blasts.

One of the smaller Centipeetles suddenly lunged forward, knocking the water gem over and breaking her control over the water. The Centipeetle Mother, now free from Lapis, jerked its head from side to side and threw Jasper off.

Lapis broke free from under the mound of Centipeetles that had gathered on top of her, using her water wings to push them away. She flew for a short moment before getting knocked down by the Mother, landing next to Jasper.

The Centipeetle Mother opened its mouth and a torrent of acid spilled forward. With a small amount of strength remaining, Lapis summoned enough water to create a small shield that dissipated instantly.

Steven saw the Mother open its mouth again and a burning feeling spread through him. He jumped in front of the two exhausted gems just as the next acid wave burst forth.

"No!" Steven screamed and closed his eyes tight.

To his surprise, he was unharmed. Steven opened his eyes to see a large pink shield protecting him, Lapis and Jasper from the acid. The acid rebounded off the shield and landed all over the beach, destroying all of the smaller Centipeetles.

Steven grew excited. "I have a shield!" He yelled and thrust his arms into the air. Like a bullet, the shield suddenly took off and bonked the Centipeetle Mother in the face.

Taking this as an opportunity, Jasper jumped into the air, resummoning her helmet, and headbutted the monster. Having being weakened by Steven's shield, the monster instantly poofed, dropping a round green gem.

Peridot walked up and held the gem, a light green bubble forming around it. She tapped the top and the bubble teleported into the Temple. Four of her fingers formed one of her screens and she mumbled things to herself while logging the gem in.

Jasper walked over and sighed. "Peridot, you know you don't have to log things." In a quieter voice she whispered "You're not a Homeworld Peridot anymore."

Peridot just sighed as her fingers returned to her hand. She turned the attention back to Steven. "Congratulations Steven, you summoned your weapon!" She said, bluntly ignoring Jasper.

"I know right!" Steven yelled in excitement. "Now I can go on missions with you guys and protect people and help save the world! And maybe also use the shield for other things, like I can carry heavy stuff around or use it as an umbrella or a skateboard or-"

At that point, Peridot tuned out.

 **Well, that's the first chapter and it was a rendition of Gem Glow. The only thing that was actually significant there was that he summoned his shield so…**

 **ANYWAY! The first few chapters are going to be about Steven unlocking his powers and learning more about Gem stuff.**

 **So if you liked this and want more, leave a review! (Or not, you don't really have to)**


	2. Pink Lion

**I was originally going to post the next chapter, which I happened to have all written out, but then I realized that I skipped over Lion's first episode. So here he is! Also, wanted to thank the people who have already favorited, followed and left a review, so I'm posting this thing (which I honestly just whipped up in 3 days) sooner then I thought I would. Enough of the AN. Get on with the story!**

Another gust of wind blew another pile of sand into Steven's face. He grumbled as he wiped it off, feeling tired and wet and hot.

They were currently trekking through the middle of a desert to seek a gem artifact that was getting out of control. Or something. Steven hadn't really known what that meant, considering he hadn't really been listening, but since the gems had just given him the okay to go on missions he thought it would be fun to tag along.

Crawling through tons of gritty grains of sand was not fun. Steven groaned and he rested on the sand for a moment until someone pulled him up.

Jasper held the back of his shirt. "You sure you wanted to go on this mission? Desert's aren't necessarily the best place for humans to be."

At that, the young boy seemed to regain all his energy. "No no no! I can take the heat!" He said. Jasper laughed. "If you say so."

They crossed the next dune and they all saw a humongous structure. Or several humongous structures.

Dozens of tall sand towers were _everywhere_. The ground rumbled and another tower rose right behind them.

"What's happening?" Steven asked. Peridot shook her head. "Steven, weren't you listening?"

The boy shook his head. Peridot sighed, then formed her fingerscreen. She selected something on it and turned the display around so Steven could see.

"We're looking for the Desert Glass, a gem that has powerful manipulation over sand. It used to build structures with reason, mainly to protect itself, but now it's power is building things at random. We have to retrieve it before things get out of control." Peridot explained.

"Cool!" Steven said just as a low growling sound was heard. "What was that?" He asked, his happy mood instantly jumping to fear.

Jasper shook her head. "Probably nothing. There isn't anything out here other than us and the Desert Glass. There's nothing here that can hurt you." She nodded to Peridot and Lapis. "Let's go gems!"

The three started running toward the biggest structure, a temple-like castle, and left Steven to sit in the sand. When the gems left, the sun seemed even more desperate to make him sweat.

Steven crawled over to one of the sand towers and sat in its shade. He wiped the sweat off his face and waited for the gems to come back.

Another low growl was heard. Steven instantly looked up, alarmed.

Steven then relayed Jasper's words back to himself. "There isn't anything out here. There's nothing here that can hurt me." He looked out into the desert anyway, just to be safe.

Not seeing anything, Steven went back to wiping his forehead and laying on the sand. The column of sand he was leaning against suddenly started to collapse. Surprised, Steven stumbled away from the falling sand.

A large pink animal with glowing eyes stood behind the column. It had a large mane and four huge paws. A lion. Steven did the first thing anyone would do as the lion started to approach him.

He ran.

Almost tripping over his own feet, Steven scrambled through the shifting grains or sand. Another rumble shook the ground. Steven nearly ran into the wall that had just formed in front of him.

Scared, he turned around as the lion approached him. The lion stopped several meters short of where he was and opened it's mouth. Steven waited for the lion to roar, but instead, it yawned, then collapsed onto the sand to sleep.

The lion didn't seem so scary anymore as a big pile of pink fur. Steven approached it tentatively, not sure if it was still hostile. He reached out with his hand and lightly pet the lion's nose. The lion's eye opened, and although it was no longer glowing, it was still a shock.

Steven jumped backward, but when the lion didn't make any move to attack, he continued to pet it. "Aww!" Steven gushed. "You were just lonely weren't you?" He laughed when the lion yawned again.

Steven then moved on to the lion's mane. He giggled as he ran his hands through the silky fur. "Your fur's so soft too!" Steven climbed on top of the lion. He laughed again as the lion turned to the side, making him fall off.

"You're so cool! And you're pink! And soft! It's like, it's like you're the cotton candy king! Of the jungle! Or in this case the desert!" Steven patted his new friend some more. "I think I'm going to call you… Lion. Yeah, that's a pretty fitting name."

He played with the lion's mane some more until the temple thing the gems went into exploded. Sand blew all over the desert, completely covering the two of them. Steven saw two figures heading toward him, and a third one in the sky when he dug out of the sand. "They're coming back!"

Jasper looked up at Lapis, who was holding the Desert Glass while doing all kinds of acrobatic tricks, some including throwing the gem they had just retrieved into the air, and called up "Shouldn't you have bubbled that? If you drop it, we'll have to do that all over again."

Lapis shrugged and threw the Desert Glass into the air again. Both Jasper and Peridot sighed simultaneously.

Then they caught sight of Steven playing with a lion, and did what anyone would do if their kid was in potential danger.

"Steven!" Jasper shouted, her helmet appearing. "Get away from that thing!"

She prepared to charge, but Steven held his hands out protectively in front of the lion. "Wait, no! Don't hurt Lion!"

"What?" Peridot asked, confused.

From her (and the gems) perspective, Steven had been laying down on a big carnivorous beast that probably wouldn't have given a single thought about swallowing the boy down.

"He's nice! Look! This big ol' softie wouldn't dream of hurting me!" Steven demonstrated by faceplanting into Lion's mane. The big cat suddenly started to move away.

"Whoa!" Steven stood up, brushing himself off, and saw Lion staring up into the sky. Or, well, at Lapis. Or even more specifically, at the Desert Glass.

Lion issued a growl deep from the back of his throat, then took off at a sprint towards the flying gem and her reckless maneuvers. Jasper narrowed her eyes. "It wants the Desert Glass." She stated. "Stop that lion!"

Jasper rolled into a spin dash, kicking up sand. Peridot found Steven tightly clinging on to her as she prepared to follow. "Don't hurt Lion." He said, looking up with puppy eyes.

The green gem sighed. "No promises. Especially when Jasper's involved."

Lapis darted off, clutching the pillow holding the Desert Glass tightly with Lion in hot pursuit. Jasper suddenly appeared beside the lion and rammed into him with all her strength.

The lion growled as he was knocked to the side for several meters. As he got up, his eyes started to glow. By then, Jasper had already run up to him and punched Lion into the sky. The pink cat roared as he flew through the air, becoming smaller and smaller in the distance.

"Lion!" Steven said when he saw the pink shape disappear over the horizon.

Peridot shrugged. "Let's just go back to the Temple."

Back at the Temple, Steven flopped onto his bed after showering. The trip into the desert had left him completely covered with sand and sweat. He closed his eyes for a moment.

A scratching noise at the door awoke him. Steven rubbed his eyes and headed downstairs. Normally one of the gems would've opened the door, but two were out on another mission and Lapis was busy in her room. He opened the door to be greeted by a large pink cat.

"Lion!" He said happily. "I'm sorry for the way the gems treated you. You weren't actually trying to attack us, were you? Did you come all the way here to find me?"

Lion stared at the boy, then lowered his head and tried to push himself in. "No no, you can't go in there! Lapis might come out and see you! We can play outside on the beach instead!"

Steven tried to push the lion, but the feline didn't budge. "Come on Lion! Don't you want to spend more time with your best bud?"

Lion proceeded to push himself into the house. "Lion no!" The cat turned its eyes onto the Desert Glass, which had remained unbubbled and was currently sitting on the kitchen counter. Because _someone_ had forgotten.

Steven stared in shock. He ran ahead and swiped the pillow off the counter. "Was this all you were after? After all that time we spent together, does our friendship mean nothing?!" Steven shouted, tears in his eyes.

Lion blinked and only now did Steven realize the feline's eyes were glowing. He watched as the lion padded forward, closer to him, closer to the Desert Glass. Steven's sadness turned to anger.

He angrily ran past Lion and out to the porch, where he threw the Desert Glass into the air. Lion shoved his way outside and they both watched the pillow land in the middle of the beach.

Steven gasped as the ground began to rumble and the sand began to form into structures. Realizing his mistake, Steven ran out onto the beach to try and stop the gem from reforming its castle but it was too late.

Tall pillars and spikes grew out of the ground. Buffeting winds created sandstorms. In the background, Steven could hear Lapis shouting his name.

Steven stared up at the structure in front of him, that the desert gem was on top of. He spotted a crumbly set of sandstone stairs, created by a random burst of power from the Desert Glass, and started to climb.

Steven took a flying leap from the stairs to a forming pillar. He only just managed to grasp the edge as the pillar grew higher. With a jolt, Steven saw the Desert Glass only a jump away.

Steven steadied his footing on the pillar and jumped for it.

Just as he was about to reach it, the structure grew taller and other spiked pillars grew along the sides as an attempt to protect itself. Steven landed on one of the newly forming spiked pillar but the block easily gave way.

The boy screamed as he found out he had nothing to hold onto and was free falling through the air. Dimly, he saw a spiky sandstone ground below him until he was caught by something strong. And.. soft.

"Lion!" Steven exclaimed happily as the feline jumped to safety. "You weren't trying to steal the Desert Glass! You were trying to protect us from it!" Lion roared in agreement.

Steven pointed to the top of the structure he had jumped for. "The Desert Glass is up there! How are we going to get pass all these spikes?" Lion responded with a sonic roar, shattering all the sandstone spikes and clearing a path in front of them.

"You're right, let's go!" Steven readjusted his position and sat on Lion's back as he took off. They paused as three pillars grew right in front of them. Another sonic roar from Lion knocked the pillars over, one of them leading right to the structure.

Lion jumped onto the pillar and raced upwards toward the Desert Glass. Through the sandstorm, Steven could see the Desert Glass surround itself with thick sandstone shield. "It's putting up defenses!" A regular roar, albeit a little annoyed, from Lion answered him. "I mean extra defenses!"

They finally reach the top of the fallen pillar. Lion didn't waste another second, both boy and beast jumped into the air. "Now Lion!"

The sonic roar broke through the Desert Glass's extra defenses. Both of them emerged from the other side with the pillow tightly gripped in Steven's hand and the sand structures falling away.

"Whoo-hoo!" Steven whooped just as Lion landed on his belly. He flipped over, tossing the boy off his back. After tumbling, Steven whooped again.

He stood up to see the gems looking at him. All three of them.

Jasper took the Desert Glass from Steven and formed an orange bubble around it. "Why was it out here?" She asked Lapis. Lapis shrugged. "Guess I forgot."

Steven ran back to Lion and threw his arms into his mane. "You saved the day Lion!" Turning to the gems, he blurted out "Can we keep him? Pleeease?"

The gems looked at one another. "Well it _did_ help Steven re-retrieve the Desert Glass." Peridot observed.

Jasper scoffed. "Fine. But if it causes me any trouble it's going back to the desert."

Lion responded by gently nudging the orange gem. "On second thought, maybe I can finally have a good sparring partner…"

 **Yeah, I know, some of these scenes are taken directly from the show. Sorry, couldn't really think of anything else! Also, sorry for making Jasper punch Lion. Fluffball didn't deserve it, but it's what I thought was Jasper-like.**

 **By the way, I don't keep an uploading schedule since I'm terrible at following them, so updates will be random. But if you're following the story it shouldn't be a problem to catch the next chapters. So cya all later!**


	3. Malachite

**Let's skip directly to Coach Steven, where he meets Malachite and his first fusion. As far as I'm concerned, the events of Giant Woman happened with the Earth Beetle in the ocean, so Lapis went to get that and Jasper hanging off Peri's fingercopter to obliterate the bird with a punch.**

Steven looked up at Jasper. "What are we gonna do here?" He asked.

Jasper pointed to a tall gem structure. "That's the Communication Hub. Lately its been setting off some kind of radiation, which means we need to stop it." She looked down at Steven and the question on the tip of his tongue. "It means it's interfering with those things you watch on your little box." She explained.

Steven continued to stare at her. Peridot interrupted. "Steven, it means that the electromagnetic waves it's sending out is harming other communicative devices." More blank stares.

Lapis sighed at her comrades failed explanations. "It means your tv is being damaged, Steven." She said. That invoked a reaction.

"NOOOO! Not TV!" He yelled, running toward the structure. He punched one of the many thick pillars holding the structure up. "Ow!" He yelled.

Jasper walked over. "Not like that. Do it," She rolled herself into a spin dash, then came blasting out with her helmet on. "Like THIS!" Jasper collided with the pillar, which cracked but failed to break. A sudden chittering sound could be heard from inside the pillar.

An angry looking rodent climbed out of the crack. It was small and Steven thought it looked a little cute, but Jasper pulled Steven away. "There wasn't supposed to be anything here. How did it even get into the material used to create this?" She muttered.

The rodent growled and leaped for the duo, extending its wicked looking claws. The rodent suddenly didn't look so cute. Jasper punched it out of the air, knocking it unconscious.

Just when they thought they were done, more sounds were heard. "Oh come on." Jasper growled as swarms of the rats climbed out.

A huge water bubble zoomed past both of them, trapping all the rodents. "I'll take care of them. Destroy the Hub!" Lapis called, maneuvering the bubble over the warp pad.

"Got it!" Jasper roared and spin dashed into random pillars. Chunks of rock flew everywhere. "Hey, watch it!" Peridot cried, using her traction beams to stop several large chunks from crushing her and Steven.

The warp pad reactivated with Lapis looking determined. "Jasper get out of there!" She called. The orange gem grunted but climbed out of the rubble of the few pillars she had destroyed.

A stunning amount of water suddenly gushed out of Lapis' gem. "I just stored a small portion of the ocean into my gem." She explained, forming giant water hands. Steven looked at her. "That's small?" One punch shook the building. However, it still stayed standing.

"How solid is this thing?" Lapis growled. "We could spend all day knocking this thing down." She sent another watery punch at it.

Jasper stepped up. "Enough. We need Malachite. Lapis, fuse with me."

Both of the gems stared at Jasper in shock. Peridot spoke first. "Jasper, are you sure? You and Lapis can get a little, teensy bit… completely out of control."

"I know the risks. But the Hub should've been taken care of already, we've got a whole list of corrupted gems to retrieve today. We should finish this up quickly." Jasper looked to the blue gem for approval, who had stored the massive amount of water back into her gem.

Lapis was unsure, but agreed. "Alright. Let's do it."

Steven watched in fascination as the two gems twirled together. "What's a fusion?" He asked Peridot, who was looking with a more worried expression on her face. "A fusion is when two gems, or multiple gems, form together into a more powerful being." She replied as the fusion dance completed.

The two bodies dissolved into light, growing larger and larger. Six huge limbs extended from the still-forming body. A large mane of hair burst from the head. The light solidified and Malachite emerged. She smiled in a slightly menacing way.

"Whoa! Are you Malachite?" Steven asked. The fusion had six arms, four of which were used as legs, a centaur-like body and four lime green eyes. Malachite grinned in reply, revealing her terrifyingly sharp teeth.

"You're so cool!" Steven said with stars in his eyes. The fusion's grin widened. "You want to see how cool?" Steven nodded eagerly.

She summoned water out of the teardrop gem on her back and turned it into a huge ice fist.

With Jasper's extended strength, Malachite slammed the fist into the Hub, sending even bigger chunks flying. Part of the thing crumbled into pieces. In what would've taken hours to do, Malachite had completed in one attack. Peridot hurried over to Steven and pulled him back from the falling debris.

"Hey Steven, you wanna see something _really_ cool?" Malachite asked. "Yeah I do!" He replied excitedly.

Malachite then summoned both of her weapons, Jasper's helmet and Lapis' water wings, and flew into the air while the giant ice fist split itself into large heavy missiles. The giant fusion curled into a spin dash mid-air and dive-bombed the structure, with the ice smashing into it after.

All Steven knew was that a large explosion shook the area and Peridot had grabbed him, running to the warp pad. "That's it, we're leaving!" She cried, ignoring Steven's complaints and warping away as humongous chunks of rock flew into the sky.

Malachite didn't seem to hear, she rammed into the remaining bits of what was left, accidentally crushing the warp pad with one of her hand-feet.

Back at the Temple, Peridot sighed. She deposited Steven on the couch and turned to the temple door, which had a five pointed star design with five small round gems on each point. Peridot's gem glowed as she activated the door to her room. The door became grid-like, circuits and other technological things included, then slid upwards.

"Peridot?" Steven said, worried. The green gem sighed again. "I just… I just need some time alone." She replied, stepping into her room.

Hours passed as Steven waited for Malachite's return. Eventually he dozed off next to window.

Steven woke to the sound of things being smashed. He opened his eyes to see Peridot run out of her room. Peridot noticed him and motioned for him to come along. The two of them raced out to the beach.

Almost at the shore, Malachite growled at the sight of them. Her four eyes narrowed in anger. She hissed something inaudible and lifted the rest of her body out of the water. Peridot stared up at the giant fusion, who glared back in turn.

"You've been in that fusion all day! You're going to lose yourselves! Unfuse!" Peridot called up. Malachite grimaced, as if the sound of her voice was painful.

"I haven't been able to see this world in ages!" Malachite hissed. "I think I'd rather STAY!" With the last word, Malachite lifted a hand from the ocean and slammed it into Peridot.

Steven gasped as the hand grabbed Peridot and flung her backward. Steven rushed to Peridot's side and helped her up. "Whats happening? Why's she attacking you?" He asked worriedly.

There wasn't any time for Peridot to answer as a chunk of ice slammed between them, throwing them into the sand. Steven looked up to see Malachite form sharp and deadly ice splinters from blobs of water aimed directly at Peridot.

Peridot instantly formed her finger blaster and shot all the splinters out of the air. Malachite growled. "You think you can fight me?" Peridot charged up a large shot and aimed at Malachite. The fusion continued to talk, easily knocking the energy ball away.

"You know you're the weakest gem. The weakest out of us all. You can't even defeat a corrupted gem by yourself." Malachite had an ugly smirk on her face. She lifted one of her 'feet', ready to crush the green gem. "So you don't stand a chance against ME!"

Steven ran toward to Peridot. He shut his eyes as a soft pink glow surrounded him. A soft gasp from Peridot made him open them.

A protective bubble had formed around him and Peridot.

Steven grinned at his newfound power, but his joy was short-lived. Malachite's 'foot' stomped onto the bubble. It flattened a little, but didn't pop.

Steven turned to Peridot, who was sitting with her back to him.

"It's true, isn't it?" She asked. "I'm not as strong as Lapis, or Jasper, and I might not even be stronger than you. I've never been able to fight a gem without getting some kind of assistance. I'm weak."

Steven shook his head. "No, you're not!" Peridot turned to look at him.

"You might not be physically strong, and you might not be the best. But you're smart, and creative, and really good with gadgety things! So I know you aren't weak. Even if you feel like giving up… stay strong for me, ok?" He offered her his hand.

Peridot smiled at the boy and nodded. Steven pulled her to her feet. The next stomp from Malachite strained the bubble.

Peridot narrowed her eyes and let go of Steven's hand. Her right hand fingers turned into a blaster and her left hand fingers began to spin. "Grab on to me, and don't let go!" She yelled.

Malachite stomped on the bubble a final time and it popped. She grinned, but it faded quickly when a rapid fire of plasma shots came right at her. Malachite growled as one of the shots narrowly missed one of her eyes.

Peridot came flying out, firing blasts consistently. Malachite quickly raised some water to block some of the shots, then summoned her wings and flew after Peridot.

Malachite was far quicker, but Peridot got far enough to do what she wanted to do.

She hovered directly over the ocean, close to the shore and close enough to the ocean that the waves were gently lapping at her foot. Malachite roared and landed in front of them, her front legs in the water. She laughed.

"Oh, how clever. You run exactly where I'll be strongest. How _brilliant_." Malachite sneered, seeing that she had the upper hand. Two large watery hands emerged from either side of Peridot.

Before she could do anything, Peridot stuck one of her hands in the water.

Normally, with one finger she could give enough of a shock to daze an opponent. Steven, who had been latched firmly on Peridot's back all the way, had never seen Peridot use her entire hand to electrocute something.

The shock burst through the water and reached Malachite's front legs in an instant. The giant shrieked in pain as the electricity coursed through her.

The two water hands collapsed back into the ocean. Peridot started flying toward Malachite while the giant was distracted.

Peridot took her hand out of the water, but by then she was close enough to give a direct shock. She laid her hand against Malachite's torso and let the fusion rip itself apart.

Lapis and Jasper fell from the sky. Peridot landed in the shallow water and used her traction beam to catch them before they could hit the waves.

Both of them groaned as they lay on the beach. "I told you forming Malachite was a bad idea." Peridot said.

Jasper groaned as she slowly got to her feet. "This is why I hate fusion…" She mumbled, limping over to Lapis, who wasn't even trying to move. The orange gem picked up Lapis and nearly stumbled, but Steven hurried over and helped steady her.

The four gems began a slow but sure pace back to the Temple.

 **By now you should've realized I'm mashing episodes together. Y'know, so that we can get past all the Steven-figures-out-his-powers and to the plot, the interesting bit! I don't mean to make it look so rushed though… Anyway, next chapter will reveal Steven's magical heal spit! So yeah, it'll be a rendition of Indirect Kiss and yeah, Connie's going to be in it AND YEAH, someone's getting their gem cracked. Stay tuned!**


	4. Rose's Fountain

**Ok, so since the weekends over I'm not going to be updating this as much, but since this is the only story I have I'll try to get chapters out weekly. If I don't update in over 2 weeks, that means writer's block. Enough bad news. To the story!**

"So that's what you did on your last mission?"

Steven nodded and took another sandwich. Connie sat opposite from him. They were having a picnic on the hill the Temple was carved out of. Lion lazily lay down next to them, giving them a soft, comfortable backrest.

Connie patted Lion, then lay down against him. "Your life is always so exciting and thrilling. There's always something magical that's happening. I wish I could go on missions too."

Steven's eyes widened and he blurted out "No you don't!"

He saw Connie's confused look and started to stutter. "I- I mean…"

"Steven, is there something you're not telling me?" Steven looked painstakingly guilty.

"Steven…" Connie's voice became a little firmer. "Steven!" She almost demanded.

"Ok, I'll tell the story, but only if you let me try on your glasses." Steven said.

"Only if you let me have the rest of your juice." Connie said. They traded items and Steven began the story. "Well, not too long ago, Me and Jasper-"

"Jasper and I."

"What?"

"Nothing. Continue."

"Well, one day, Jasper was training with me..."

* * *

Steven strained under the weight of the boulder. Jasper stood next to him, lifting two huge rocks that were twice the size of his with ease.

"Come on Steven! You're a quartz just like me. Quartz's are tough, they are strong natural fighters." Jasper said. She threw the two boulders she was holding high into the air. "Show me your inner quartz!"

Jasper summoned her helmet and jumped after the airborne rocks. With a single downward swing, one of the boulders exploded into shards. The second one was finished off with a spin dash.

Steven gawked at the display of strength. Jasper hit the ground, kneeling to absorb the impact. "Now show me what you're made of!"

Steven grunted as he lifted the boulder higher, then managed to toss it into the air. It hardly stayed airborne for even a second before crashing back to the ground.

Jasper looked on unimpressed. "Steven…"

"Jasper, while he may have a quartz-type gem, do keep in mind he's also organic? Steven is half-human." Peridot said, walking into the red sandstone canyon they were using as a training area.

Jasper huffed. "Well he's a QUARTZ! Even more, he's got Rose Quartz's gem. Rose was powerful! By some extent, Steven should be just as strong!" She turned back to Steven.

"Alright Steven, I guess we're going to need to kick things up a notch. I know you have hidden quartz power, stored away in your little, weak, fragile-"

"Jasper…" Peridot growled.

"Ahem! In your _human_ body somewhere. So let's brawl!" Jasper summoned her helmet.

"Jasper NO!" Peridot cried.

Ignoring the green gem, Jasper ran toward Steven. "Fight me!"

Steven threw himself to the side to avoid Jasper. The orange gem turned. "No, you have to fight!" This time, Jasper rolled into a spin dash. Steven started to run. Just as Jasper was about to crash into him, Steven dodged to the side again.

* * *

"Ouch! Headache!" Steven said, putting his hand on his forehead.

"So then give me back my glasses!" Connie says. Steven takes off the glasses and hands them back to Connie. "Much better. So, Jasper was hitting rocks, then Peridot came and then Jasper started to fight me-"

"Wait wait wait! Was Jasper trying to kill you?" Connie cut in, almost spitting out the juice.

"I'm actually not sure… she wanted me to fight her so I could get stronger. I don't think Jasper would've tried to kill me though, and even if she was, Peridot would've stopped her."

"The fact that you said Jasper might've killed you doesn't really help, Steven."

"Anyway!"

* * *

Jasper hit the canyon wall with the spin dash instead. Cracks spread upward and a few large boulders broke off. Steven watched in awe as some of them bounced right off Jasper's still-going dash.

Jasper turned around again. "Steven! You're supposed to try and beat me! Not just run away!" Unbeknownst to her, the cracks on the wall were still spreading.

Jasper took a step toward Steven. A rumbling sound was suddenly heard. The canyon wall that Jasper had hit began to shake. Jasper looked up to see the biggest boulder ever sail toward her.

A cloud of smoke erupted from where Jasper was standing as the boulder quite literally crushed her. "Jasper!" Steven called. On impact, the boulder had sent more rocks falling down, a large pile had already gathered on top of where the orange gem was.

Steven started to dig through the rocks. Progress was slow, but Steven managed to clear enough of the rocks to find something orange. And glinting. "...Jasper?"

Steven got Jasper's gem out of the rockpile. "Jasper?" He stared at the gem for a while, tears forming in the corners of his eyes. After a while though, the gem began to glow. Steven looked in surprise as a white shape emerged from the gemstone, seeming to shift through several forms before settling on one that Steven knew well.

"Jasper!" Steven ran toward the newly-formed gem and wrapped his arms around her. Jasper seemed taken aback. "Steven? What happened?" The boy looked up, then pointed to the pile of rocks. "You got crushed by a boulder."

Jasper looked at the rocks. "A quartz soldier… defeated by natural rock? I must be losing my lustor then…"

* * *

Connie looked at Steven sympathetically. "Oh come on Steven, it wasn't that bad. Jasper came back, right?"

Steven sniffed. "That wasn't the worst part."

* * *

Steven hugged Jasper tightly. Then he remembered something. "Wait… where's Peridot?"

They both turned to see a second, far smaller, rockpile. One of the rocks shifted and Peridot climbed out of the mound. She groaned, then collapsed onto the ground. "Peridot!" Steven said happily. He let go of Jasper and ran over to Peridot to give her a hug. To his surprise, Peridot tried to block him off.

"Aghh!" She hissed in pain. One of her robotic hands instantly flew up toward her gem. Jasper walked over. "Peridot. Your gem is cracked." With that, Jasper slung Peridot over her shoulder, to Peridot's outrage, and started walking back to the warp pad.

"Wha- Jasper you can't just treat a cracked gem like that! Jasper let me down this instant! Jasper!"

"Whoa whoa whoa! What does it mean if a gem is cracked?" Steven interrupted.

Peridot started to talk while being carried. "Well Steven, our bodies are made of light projected from our gemstone. If our physical form sustains too much damage, then a gem will retreat back into its gemstone to regenerate."

"Like what Jasper did?" Steven asked. A nod from said gem confirmed that.

"When a gemstone gets cracked, however, the gem will suffer immense injuries and, if aggravated enough, can completely fall apart and di-" At this point, Jasper shrugged her shoulders to stop Peridot from scaring Steven too much.

"Whoa! Jasper, put me down now!"

The orange gem shrugged. "Then let's see if you can stand." She deposited Peridot on the ground, where the green gem's form began to glitch. "Jasp-!" Peridot tried to say something, but the glitching cut her off. Her limbs started to look a little pixelated.

"Yup, that's right. I'm carrying you and there's not much you can do about it. In fact, you probably couldn't do anything about it even if you weren't cracked. So let's not waste anytime and get going!"

Peridot struggled feebly from Jasper's vice grip, then a thought hit her. "Go where?" She managed to croak out from what seemed to be a messed up throat.

Jasper paused. "Go to… Rose...?" The last word was said so quietly that Steven almost couldn't hear it.

"You mean Mom? What about her?" Peridot tried to go into explanation mode, but with her messed up voice Steven didn't understand much of the explanation. Jasper summarized instead. "Well, Rose had the power to heal a gem with her tears. If a gem ever got cracked, she could heal it nice and easy. But now… well…"

Jasper looked at Steven thoughtfully. "Maybe you inherited that power from Rose. Cry on Peridot's gem!" For the second time in less than a minute, Peridot was dropped to the ground. She grumbled but held still as Steven positioned himself over her gem.

Steven closed his eyes and willed himself to cry. The two gems watched him for a full three minutes. "Looks like Steven can't cry. To the next best option then." Jasper declared.

"Wait no guys! I can do it!" Steven complained as Jasper lifted Peridot again. "No. We're going to Rose's healing fountain." Before Steven could ask the question, Jasper continued. "Rose had a sanctuary, a spring completely filled with her magical tears' healing essence. If the fountain still works properly, then we can go there to heal up Peridot."

Steven sullenly followed them to the warp pad. One warp later, they walked in front of what seemed to be a giant mass of brambles. "Oh great. It is overrun…" Jasper growled. Jasper set Peridot on the ground, a little gentler then the last two times, and turned to Steven.

"Steven, watch Peridot. I'm going to find a way in." The orange gem walked away. Steven looked at Peridot just as her body glitched again.

Steven almost screamed when one of Peridot's arms simply disappeared. Her form looked even worse now. Blue-ish green cracks began to spread out from her gem, which made her face look… not at all appealing.

Peridot was starting to look more like a mutated monster then one of his trusted guardians.

A loud crashing sound turned both their heads to the source. Jasper walked out of a spin-dash sized hole that had most certainly not been there a few moments ago. "I found a way in." She said.

Jasper looked at Peridot's messy form. "Ok, I'm not carrying you anymore. Steven, carry Peridot."

Steven shuddered a little but slid his arms under her body and lifted her up. Considering she had metallic limbs, it was odd how light she weighed. Or maybe that was just a side effect of her gem being cracked and losing an arm. "It's going to be ok Peridot." He said, mostly to comfort himself.

Steven gasped when one of the thorny walls started to move. The plants pressed in closer. "Move it!" Jasper roared, summoning her helmet.

She spin-dashed back down the way they came, pieces of tough brambles flying everywhere, then a few moments later hurtled past them to enlarge the other side as well. Steven ran through the tunnel as fast as he could. Luckily, the brambles didn't move again.

Steven burst out into the clearing. His mouth dropped in awe at the huge stone statue of his mother in the middle of a deep pit, which he supposed was used to contain the healing tears.

Jasper smiled. "Rose's fountain of healing tears. It's helped us in the past and it'll help us now." They got closer to the fountain. "Or not…" Jasper grumbled, seeing that the fountain was empty.

"Where's all the healing tears?" Steven asked. Jasper clenched her fist, like she was restraining herself from punching something, and replied "I don't know." She walked around the statue.

"Maybe it is broken." Jasper grumbled. "Stay here with Peridot. I'm going to go check it out."

Steven sighed as he gently set Peridot on the ground. She shifted into a sitting position as Steven sat down next to her. Steven looked up at the serene statue of his mother. A sad feeling welled up in his chest and a single tear escaped from his eye.

Instantly realizing this as a chance, Steven almost slapped himself in the face in an effort to get the tear on his hand. He then turned to Peridot and firmly put his hand on it. The new pressure on Peridot's gem caused it to crack even further.

Steven gasped in fear. "Peridot I'm sorry! I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry!" Peridot's form glitched again. Steven turned away, afraid of what he might find.

When he gained enough courage to open his eyes again, he was too terrified to scream.

Peridot's other arm had disappeared from the elbow, leaving her with an arm stump. The blue-ish cracks had spread far enough that Steven could see them on her arms. The outfit she usually wore seemed to have large patches missing in it, the dark green color of her uniform instead mixing into the light green of her skin.

To add to his fear, what he had assumed were bushes that surrounded the edges of the clearing now started to move toward them.

Steven quickly picked up Peridot, being as fast as he could while trying not to damage her gem further, and ran toward the fountain. He jumped into the pit, tumbling over and over until he reached the bottom.

The bushes luckily didn't follow him in. Steven looked sadly at Peridot. "I'm sorry I couldn't save you Peridot. Now it's going to be my fault that you're gone."

The gem looked back up at him. Steven could see the large crack in her gem, a rough, jagged line that almost separated her gem into three parts. As he watched, the cracks grew a little more.

The sight broke his heart. Steven cradled Peridot closer to himself and started to cry. Tears spilled out of his eyes and down his cheeks. The first tear hit Peridot's gem.

The moment Steven realized that, he stopped crying and stared happily at the gem in anticipation.

Nothing happened.

Steven's face morphed back into a sad one. "Oh come on!" He shouted angrily at the gem. A rumble shook the ground.

Steven turned to see the statue of his mother. Magical liquid gushed out from underneath her closed eyelids. The tears instantly filled the fountain.

Steven opened his eyes and thought he saw a silhouette of his mother reaching toward him through the water. He swam upwards, but it only turned out to be the statue. All the brambles were now gone and turned into roses that dotted the fountain's surface.

Peridot lightly bumped into him, now back to normal. He grinned and threw himself at the gem, who caught him in her arms.

"Oh whew. It's working again." Jasper said, running out on the newly uncovered entrance to the fountain. "Jasper!" Steven called excitedly. "My crying bought the fountain back to life and saved Peridot!"

Jasper scratched the back of her head. "Actually, I just unplugged a clog from a chamber that got the fountain working. I didn't think you had anything to do with it."

Steven's face fell, but he held on to a small part of his theory. "Are you sure my crying didn't do anything?"

Jasper leaned down. "Steven, you don't have any healing powers, or any magical powers really, you're pretty much useless to the team but we keep you around anyway because Rose wanted us too."

* * *

"Ok, I know Jasper's mean but she didn't really say that!" Connie exclaimed.

"No, she didn't. But that's what it felt like." Steven replied, crossing his arms. "What if I really do never get my powers?" He asks sadly.

Connie shrugs. "Then you'll be like me. That's not so bad."

"But if I don't have any powers then I won't be able to hang out with the Crystal Gems! Or go on missions!" Steven exclaims, tears starting to well up in his eyes.

Connie put her hand on Steven's. "You don't need any powers to be here with me." She leaned in closer, but then pulled back and put her hand on her forehead.

"What is it?" Steven asked, a little worried.

"I think there… might be something wrong… with my glasses." Connie took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes. She blinked them open and saw Steven's blurry image become clearer.

"I can see!" She yelled out in surprise. "I can see without my glasses!"

Steven's mouth dropped open. "What? Did I… heal your eyes? But how?"

Their eyes fell to the juice box. Connie gasped and dropped it on the ground. The end of the straw seemed to be sparkling in the sunlight. "I don't have healing tears… I have healing SPIT!" Steven whooped.

"What am I going to tell my parents? What am I going to tell my optometrist?" Connie cried.

"I don't even know! Come on Lion! Let's go tell the Gems!" The boy and his lion ran off, leaving Connie alone on the hill. Connie looked down at her glasses. She knew what her parents were like. She had a pretty good guess of what would happen if she told them her eyesight had magically healed.

The girl popped the lenses off, then put the frame on. Her parents would never need to know.

 **I hope a satisfied your requests of doing a different Gem! I seriously hope you're pleased because I completely cut Lapis out. If you've read one of the most popular fanfictions in this category, you can probably guess where I got Peridot's cracked transformations from. Oh, also, just to humor myself and extend this even though its long (seriously, every chapter I write just gets longer):**

Steven rushed into the house. "Guys guess what!" He yelled. He stopped, realizing the Gems were heading toward the warp pad.

"Not now Steven. Lapis happened to crack her gem because for some weird reason she thought it would be fun to fall on rocks!" Peridot grumbled. "We're going to the fountain, we'll be back soon."

"Wait no, guys! I can heal things now!" The gems stared at him in shock.

"Alright Steven!" Lapis cheered from the position she was in. "Work your magic for me." Lapis stumbled over onto the couch and sat down with her back towards Steven. Steven sat next to her and leaned closer to Lapis' gem.

The gems waited in anticipation, hoping Steven had somehow been able to make himself cry on command. Instead, he flat out licked Lapis' gem. The blue gem shuddered in disgust, then horror.

"Steven! What-" She cut herself off when her gem began to glow. The crack mended and the gem became whole. "See, I have healing spit!" Lapis laughed uncomfortably.

"So you do… maybe next time avoid licking things?" She could still feel the warm slither of his tongue on her gem. It was not the best feeling. "Uh, sure? But the point is I have healing powers!"

Feeling the oncoming ramble coming, Jasper instantly headed over to the warp pad. 'I uh, have a mission to do! See ya!" Peridot played along. "And I, uh, have something important to work on!" She slipped inside her room. Lapis tried to come up with an excuse, but found none. She sighed as Steven started talking.


	5. (Short) Located The Beetles

**Started these shorts because full chapter updates are taking too long. These shorts will be purely for humor purposes and some of them will not be completely attached to the main story. They will also answer some questions in the AU, such as how the Crystal Gems know where to go without using future vision.**

Steven turned to see the door being opened by what looked to be a snake. Completely made out of water.

Scared out of his mind, Steven jumped into Jasper's arms, who was sitting behind him.

"Relax, Steven. It's just Lapis." Jasper said, putting the boy down. "Got information?"

The water snake nodded its head. "I've located the Beetles of Heaven and Earth. All we have to do is retrieve them." It said with Lapis' voice.

Slightly creeped out but also fascinated, Steven crawled on all fours to the water snake. He waved his arm in front of the snake's head, then poked it with a finger. The snake shifted. "Steven, I'd rather you not try to destroy my concentration with your poking.

Ignoring Steven, Jasper grinned. "Finally some action! Well, I'd rather not have that annoying Peridot by my side so I'll go alone." She stretched her arms out, the entire day having been devoid of anything to punch.

The snake shook its head. "No, _I'm_ going alone. You, Steven and Peridot are going to retrieve the Heaven Beetle." It said in a firm voice.

"What?! But why?" Jasper shouted. Steven covered his ears. Jasper was _loud_.

"Well, the last time I checked the Earth Beetle is at the bottom of a lava lake. You may be tough Jasper, but I don't think even you could withstand wallowing in lava."

Jasper scowled, then looked at Steven. "Wait, doesn't Steven have a protective bubble? Maybe he could summon it and then we could both go down together-"

"Jasper you are _**not**_ sending Steven into that lake!" Lapis' snake cried out.

"But maybe-"

"JASPER. YOU. ARE. NOT. PUTTING. STEVEN. INSIDE. A. LAVA. LAKE. Understood?" The snake growled. Steven could just imagine Lapis seething on the other end. Jasper gulped. "Yeah, I get it…"

"Good. I'll be flying back shortly. You three have fun!" The snake said cheerfully before collapsing into an ordinary puddle of water. Jasper sighed. "On we go, then."

* * *

"That was really cool how you just jumped on its back. That bird didn't know what hit it!"

"I know! And I never thought you had it in you, carrying this mighty warrior on your puny fingers."

"Hey!"

The three gems warped back to the house. They all saw Lapis at the same time, holding a brown beetle in her hand.

"Hey Lapis, how did your trip in the lava lake go?" Jasper asked.

The blue gem looked up. "Oh, well, I managed to keep the water shield up when I reached the bottom of the lake and it wasn't there."

Jasper was confused, but everyone could see she was also on the brink of anger. "What do you mean 'it wasn't there'? Then what is that?" She pointed to the bug in Lapis' hand.

"Well, turns out the beetle was at the bottom of the ocean instead." Lapis said, putting the beetle on the table with her wings already out.

"WHAT?! LAZULI, I SWEAR, WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU, YOU ARE GOING TO GET IT!" Jasper bellowed just as Lapis fled through the door.

 **In case you don't get the last part, gems don't need to breathe. Jasper could've gone by herself anyway. Lapis really got her ticked off now.**

 **By the way, I take prompts for shorts, be free to leave ideas or questions and I'll answer then with either a PM or a short. Next chapter will up soon.**


	6. Facet 9

**I'm happy to say that after this chapter, my own story plot will start. Enjoy!**

Steven and Peridot warped to an elevated platform in the middle of the ocean. About a dozen other warps, similar to the one they had just activated, were littered around. Each of the warp pads, excluding the one they had warped in on, were broken in one way or another.

"Whoa! What is this place?" Steven asked with stars in his eyes. Peridot allowed herself a smug smile as they started to walk around. "This, Steven, is the Galaxy Warp. We used to be able go to other planets using the various warps here."

"Whoa! Other planets? Like, in space?"

"Yes Steven, other planets in space." Peridot said. "The Galaxy Warp connected us to all the planets that was controlled by gems, colonies that are now inhabited by hundreds of thousands of other gems like us. On these other planets, gems are created, much like us." She looked down to see Steven with stars in his eyes and his mouth wide open.

"You came from space?" Steven asked. Peridot looked thoughtful. "Well, not all of us." Before Steven could ask what she meant, a beam of light erupted from the warp pad they had used.

Jasper looked around and saw the two of them. "Peridot, what are you doing at the Galaxy Warp?" She asked, walking up to them. Before Peridot could say anything, Steven broke in. "Did you all really come from space?"

Jasper shot a dark look at Peridot. "How much did you tell him?" Peridot shrugged in a very unconvincing way.

"He's old enough to learn this, right?" The green gem squeaked out.

Jasper's gaze softened. "Maybe you're right." She said thoughtfully. "Maybe it is time to show him where we came from. Or where I came from, at least." The two gems walked back to the active warp pad with Steven in tow.

"Are we going to go to space?" Steven asked excitedly. Jasper shook her head. "Even if we wanted to, we couldn't. All of these warps are broken and we don't have a suitable spaceship. But I'm going to show you the next best thing." The warp pad activated, and they appeared in a red canyon similar to where Steven and Jasper trained.

"I present to you the Facet 9 Beta Kindergarten. It's a mess really, but it's where I came from." Jasper announced proudly. Steven gasped as they walked through the canyon. Oddly shaped holes were carved into the rock, not a single one of them exactly like another.

"It's a really big mess. Look at these exit holes. They're not even properly lined up! Half of these aren't even straight… Two gems came out of the same hole? Were the gem's assigned here even proper Kindergarteners?" Peridot muttered under her breath while glancing around.

They finally stopped. Jasper looked up proudly at a huge, clear hole in the wall that was a perfect silhouette of her. The shape's arms were even flexed at its sides. From the ground, Steven could see a glossy surface on the inside of the hole that none of the other ones they walked by had.

"My exit hole." Jasper grinned. "There has only been few other gems with a hole like this. Peridot, you want to check it out again, show Steven how great I was from the very beginning?"

Peridot shook her head. "Yeah, because the last 20 times I did it wasn't enough. I'm done looking at that hole." She directed her attention onto Steven. "Many gems were created here, and only one of them came out right. And that's our Jasper. She's the only one who could rival the Prime Kindergarten." She said.

"There's another Kindergarten?" Steven asked in awe. Peridot gave him a small smile and patted his head. "I think we can see that for another day." The three gems started to head back the way they came.

Just as the warp pad came into view, it activated and revealed a familiar blue gem. Lapis looked around and spotted them. "What are you doing here?" She hissed.

Peridot gulped. "This isn't going to end well..." She muttered under her breath.

"Have you been showing Steven a Kindergarten?" Lapis continued, her voice rising. It was hard to tell her emotions, but it was doubtful they were positive ones.

Jasper looked up at her. "We thought it was time." Lapis looked over at Steven. She could easily tell he had been in awe a few moments ago.

She glared back at Jasper. "You didn't even tell him all of it, did you? The bad things, the life that was destroyed, the Prime Kindergarten! Not even about Hom-" Lapis cut herself off and instead ended her sentence by drawing enough water from her gem to create an slightly watery ice spear.

Jasper jumped from normal to furious. Her helmet appeared on her head. "Lapis, don't do this." The orange gem growled. "You can't beat me in a desert."

The blue gem only glowered. Her wings burst from her back and she flew at a stunning speed toward the orange gem with the spear point aiming for Jasper's chest. Peridot grabbed Steven and jumped backwards as Jasper lowered her head to block the blow with her helmet.

The collision blew enough wind to make the dust and grit fly off the ground.

Jasper thrust her head up, throwing Lapis into the air. Lapis caught the air with her wings and twirled the spear. While it was in her grip, it slowly melted and solidified into a new weapon, a sword.

"If he really was ready, you would've told him everything! Not just bring him here!" Lapis hurtled back toward the ground and slashed downwards.

Jasper managed to catch the gem's arm and threw her into a nearby wall. The ice sword clattered out of Lapis' grip and melted in the sun. "No, we discussed about this! You know my reasons."

Lapis growled and summoned more water out of her gem. She created several ice spikes and threw them toward Jasper. The orange gem dodged around and charged for Lapis, rolling into a spin dash as she did so.

Steven looked at the fight worriedly. "What are they doing? Why are they fighting each other?" Peridot hugged Steven to her chest and started to move toward the warp pad. She planned to get out of here before things got too ugly.

Meanwhile, Lapis dodged to the side as Jasper dashed into the canyon wall. She created another ice spear and charged at the orange gem, who was only just turning around.

Lapis used her wings to give herself a speed boost and tackled Jasper. The two gems rolled over on the ground, with Lapis trying to drive her spear into Jasper's body and Jasper trying to break away.

Jasper finally managed to slam her helmet through the spear, shattering the ice immediately. Before Lapis could react, Jasper drew back her fist and punched the blue gem with all her power.

Lapis tumbled over the ground and slammed into a wall. The blue gem dropped to the ground, groaning in pain. Despite all her muscles aching, she still managed to stumble to her feet, rage fueling her limbs.

She summoned more water from her gem and created another sword. "Why does he get to learn about you first? How come you can just tell him? Why can't I..." Lapis trailed off, but Jasper knew the rest. Lapis had mentioned it to her countless times. _Why can't I be a better Gem?_

Jasper noticed that the sword tip was trembling. It wasn't just from Lapis' exhaustion.

The orange gem calmly walked toward Lapis. When the sword was thrust, Jasper caught the blade and tossed it aside. Lapis threw a shaky punch that the orange gem easily sidestepped.

Jasper simply stuck out her foot and Lapis tripped, too driven with rage and sadness to think clearly anymore.

Lapis let out a soft gasp when Jasper picked her up.

While she was a little grateful that Jasper wasn't intent on smashing her gem, Lapis couldn't help but notice that Jasper had arranged her in a way where she couldn't fight back.

"Don't be angry, Lapis. We can't change our past, and I know we agreed that when he was old enough, we would teach him about Homeworld. But the thing is, we can reveal information about the Kindergarten without having him know how badly it affected Earth, while the mirror would ask a lot of questions… My point is, we didn't think he was ready to learn the full truth. Just part of it. When that time comes, we can explain about it together."

Jasper sighed. "Let's go back. Don't forget you still have to do some patrols…" Lapis sighed as well.

She had let her anger get out of control. That was usually in Jasper's territory. "Is he at least old enough to know about the Gem War?" She asked.

Jasper shrugged as they stepped onto the warp pad. "We can teach him that later."

Lapis heard the hum of the pad activating and wondered to herself 'Hopefully nothing will happen that'll make Steven learn about all this sooner then he has to...'

 **I'm trying to make my chapters not longer than necessary. I guess I could've extended the fight scene but it's sorta hard to when two fully-capable gems are fighting each other. I dunno, I feel like this chapter was flimsy.** **But! Next chapter my plot begins, and Pearl will get some kind of cameo. Unless I happened to miss anything important. Speaking of which, I never covered shapeshifting...  
**


	7. Space Robot

**Finally to the plot! This first chapter will have multiple similarities to Warp Tour because I like to stick to canon as close I can while still having in-character… characters. Anyway, enjoy!**

Steven joined the gems onto the warp pad, his eyes swollen and nose running. "So… much… pollen…"

They had only just finished fighting a monster in a field of flowers. The pollen was so thick in the air, Steven had trouble breathing, much less helping the gems.

Steven rubbed her eyes and nose while the warp activated. The familiar feeling of warping took him away from the suffocating air. Unfortunately, it didn't stop him from sneezing.

In the weightlessness of the warp stream, the sneeze blew Steven upwards and outside the stream. Steven blinked when he saw another warp stream beside the one they were in.

As he watched, something dark and round traveled upwards and away to another warp location. Steven suddenly felt a pull on his ankle and he was brought back into the stream.

"Steven!" Peridot scolded. "It's very dangerous outside in warp space for a human like you. There isn't much oxygen out there and it is very cold!"

Steven didn't even realize how deprived of breathable air he was, but he took a deep breath and blurted out "I saw something warping in another stream!" The gems looked at each other.

"Steven, are you sure your eyes weren't just messed up from all that pollen?" Lapis asked. Peridot nodded in agreement. "It must've just been the pollen. Only we possess the ability to use the warp pads. There's nothing out there."

Steven remembered glumly the time when Jasper had said those exact words, and that there had been something out there. Sure, it turned out to be the faithful pet that was Lion, but still, she ended up wrong.

"But…" He felt a need to convince the gems that he was right.

"Steven." The boy looked up at Jasper. "There is nothing on Earth that can use these warps. We are safe."

They appeared back in the Temple. Peridot went in her room to work on whatever robotic device she had at the moment (that would probably blow up anyway) and Lapis went out to do some patrols.

Steven looked at Jasper. In all his 14 years of life, the few things he could say with certainty about Jasper was that she was great at issuing orders, being strong and punching things.

The orange gem calmly walked over to the couch and sat on it. Steven shuffled his feet. The awkward tension in the air was almost suffocating. Finally, Steven started to head to the door. "I'm just going to, uh, take a walk." Jasper only acknowledged him with a nod as the door closed.

Steven sighed, kicking the sand along the beach. "I know I saw something…" He muttered under his breath. He stopped and looked up at the sky. "Tell me I saw something!"

As if on cue, a small dot appeared in the sky. Steven squinted as the dot slowly became bigger.

As it came closer, Steven realized it was an object. It was also on fire, having entered Earth's atmosphere at an alarming speed. Squinting, Steven could see that the foreign object was heading straight toward him.

Registering that thought, Steven jumped to the side and watched the object smash into the sand. The grains flew into the air, only to crystallize into glass spikes.

The glass then exploded. Steven covered his face, but the shards never reached him. He opened an eye to see a white ball, extraordinarily similar to the robonoids Peridot would tinker with.

The top of the ball slid aside to let a thick short pole emerge. The pole suddenly split into five pieces and arranged itself like a helicopter blade. The robonoid lifted into the air. A small black hole in the robot peered around, which Steven assumed was some kind of camera.

"Whoa! Cool!" Steven said, reaching out for the robonoid. It didn't react as he picked it out of the air.

Its helicopter blades stopped spinning, but it rotated itself around to 'look' at Steven with the black hole, which were actually just black lenses.

"Steven?" Jasper walked along the beach toward the boy. "What is that?"

The robot turned itself in Steven's hands and spotted Jasper. The black lenses suddenly turned an alarming red and the helicopter blades spun so violently that Steven let go instantly to avoid getting hit.

The robot suddenly shot a red beam right at the orange gem. Jasper dodged the beam and summoned her helmet. She dodged the next few beams effortlessly. Just as she was about to destroy the robot with her helmet, it flew higher into the air.

The lenses turned blue with white script running across them. Before it could complete whatever it was doing, Jasper jumped into the air and smashed the robot into pieces.

Along with the outer casing, a remarkable amount of greenish goop exploded along the beach. Jasper dismissed her helmet and walked over to Steven.

"Maybe there really was something out there." she said. Jasper put a hand on Steven's shoulder. "We should've trusted you more… Let's go back to the Temple and sort all of this out. Maybe Peridot would know something…"

* * *

The green gem took one look at the goop they had collected and threw her hands into the air. "What am I supposed to do with this?!"

Jasper shrugged. "I'unno. Maybe find out what it is and does?"

Peridot sighed. "In order to truly find out, I would need a complete model. Just giving me this sticky stuff won't help with anything." Jasper got up. "Well at least find out what this stuff does. I'm going to go punch some rocks."

* * *

Later that night, Steven was only just beginning to doze off when something whizzed right over the house, so close that it almost burned off the roof. If the sound of it so close to the house wasn't enough to make Steven alarmed, the deafening sound of the object smacking against the ocean would've.

Curious, Steven climbed out of bed and was just heading down the steps when his doorframe started to glow red.

The frame burned away and another flying robonoid from earlier entered the house. Its lenses locked onto the warp pad.

"Oh no you don't!" Steven jumped off the second floor and somehow landed right on top of the robonoid. The helicopter blades weren't fast enough to seriously hurt him, so Steven managed to hold on as his weight unbalanced the flying drone. They both tumbled over on the ground.

"Jasper! Peridot! Lapis! There's another robot!" Steven yelled as loud as he could. He looked hopefully toward the temple door, but it remained closed.

The robot squirmed its way out of his grasp and landed on the warp pad, the poles making up its helicopter blades now acting as feet. Just as the warp begins to hum, Steven tackles the robonoid.

However, he wasn't fast enough to stop them from warping. Steven felt himself grow weightless. He fumbled for the robonoid but it easily slipped out of his grasp.

More of the robonoids appeared, entering from the sides of the warp stream. They clustered around him, then pushed Steven outside.

Panicked, Steven tried to get back into the glowing column of light, but the momentum of the push was already bringing him farther away. Steven was slowly spinning in the warp space. As he spun, he caught glimpses of multiple streams heading to the same location.

His breath started to come out of short ragged breaths. He blearily closed his eyes as another warp stream burst into life. This time, a blue figure rocketed through the warp space towards Steven.

Lapis cradled Steven in her arms. In warp space, her wings were next to useless, but her momentum had already brought her far enough. Another stream burst forth right underneath them.

"Lapis! Did you get him?" Peridot asked, coming up to their level. Lapis was still holding the boy close to her chest. She lightly shook his shoulders.

"Steven! Are you alright?" Steven opened his eyes and took in oxygen that wasn't there a few moments ago. "Am I still alive?" He asked.

Lapis just brought him into another hug. "I'm sorry for not believing you." Peridot's metallic arms also wound around both of them, and they hugged all the way to their destination.

Steven suddenly found that he had weight again. Lapis put him down and he stared at the sight in front of him. They had gone to the Galaxy Warp. On the Homeworld Warp bustled at least 20 of the robots.

"Psst! Over here!" Steven turned to see Jasper. They joined the orange gem and watched the robots pour green goop all over the cracks in the warp. The substance solidified to reveal the warp had been fixed.

The gems let in an audible gasp. When the warp started to activate, they pretty much panicked.

Jasper grabbed Steven and jumped up to one of the crumbly pillars. She crouched precariously on top tucking Steven under one arm. Lapis flew up with Peridot on her back. The four gems watched as the warp revealed a slim, white gem.

Her hair was tapered back to a point and she had a pointed nose. She wore a blue spacesuit with a pink diamond in the middle, along space visor that resembled Peridot's. A round, oval-shaped gem was set in her forehead.

Peridot sucked in a breath. "Isn't that a Pearl?" She muttered under her breath.

The gem looked around herself, then cautiously stepped off the warp. "Earth seems to be a fine planet…" She said, then winced noticeably. "I can't be a tourist! I need to complete this quickly or who knows what will happen?"

She composed herself with a deep breath. Her gem glowed and a small round object appeared. She pressed a button on the side. "This is Pearl. Most of the drones seem to accounted for. One failed to make an appearance, but the primitive inhabitants of this world would naturally try to destroy such a technological device. Earth appears to be satisfactory."

The robonoids cast forward a holographic screen, which overlapped each other perfectly. Pearl put her hands into the screen and her eyes seemed to take on the same appearance as the drone during the fight against Jasper. Eventually, she took a step back, breaking the connection. "I need to get back…"

Pearl turned and stepped back onto the warp. She took out rectangular object and placed it down before warping. After the stream had dissipated completely, the rectangular object exploded, effectively destroying the warp and any robonoid unlucky enough to get caught in the blast.

The gems jump down from the pillar as the remaining robonoids waddle toward the edge of the platform, falling into the dark waters of the ocean.

Jasper took in a deep breath. "Well that was interesting."

 **And interesting it was. Whaddya think of my little twist? The chapter took longer then I thought it would take, so I hope it turned out well!**

 **By the way, it seems really selfish but I gain confidence from receiving reviews. I mean, having follows and favorites are really nice, but I value the reviews. Yeah, it's a really bad thing to beg for reviews. I'm not proud of begging, but I like having comments on my chapters. So… review?**


	8. (Short) The Foot

**I decided to recreate this scene to give some more depth to the whole Lapis-does-patrols thing and also, let's face it, it's one of the funniest scenes. Enjoy!**

"So, what are we fighting today?" Steven asked in between bites of cereal. "I hope it's fighting a giant…" He thought for a while. "Foot." He said, sticking out his own for emphasis.

Jasper snorted. "If we're supposed to fight a giant foot, Lapis would let us know."

"Where is Lapis?" Steven asked.

Peridot sighed. "Oh, you know how Lapis has to go on patrols all the time to warn us of anything we may need to fight. And you also know how she sometimes thinks she can take care of it herself."

The boy pondered this for a moment. "So… where is she? Fighting the foot?"

Peridot groaned. "She's not fighting the foot. She's probably still flying around the world. Or getting her butt kicked…" Peridot muttered the last part.

Steven took another bite of cereal. "How can Lapis fly around the world so fast?"

Jasper shrugged. "She's got some real power in those wings of hers. But I don't know why she doesn't always use that speed in battle. Either that, or I don't know, and I don't care. What matters is that she finds things for me to punch, and then I punch them."

"Like the foot?"

Jasper shrugged again. "Maybe." She stroked her chin thoughtfully. "You know, I just remembered the secret way of destroying the foot." She said slyly.

"There is no foot!" Peridot insisted, but was bluntly ignored. Steven straightened up, interested. "What is it?"

"Well," Jasper said, looking around the house. Her eyes landed on the bowl of cereal. "You have to slam your face into that bowl of cereal."

Steven nodded with a serious look on his face. "Okay." A fair bit of milk and cereal splashed out.

Jasper grinned. "Good job, Steven. You stopped the foot!"

Steven crossed his arms as cereal and milk dribbled down his face. "I'm a hero."

Peridot groaned and facepalmed.

 **I don't think this is finished, but I'll leave the second part for when I write out some more of the main plot. And jeez this thing is short, but that's why its called a short!  
** **Don't forget to Read, Rate n' Review!**


	9. Space Pod

**Merry Christmas, or happy holidays! This was meant to be posted a little quicker, but vacations and terrible hotel wifi and stuff. Cuz its Christmas, I might as well go updating everything.  
** **So last chapter Pearl made an appearance. She sent a bunch of robots, came to Earth, then blew up the warp she came to Earth on. Very strange right? *Insert mischievous grin here* Enjoy!**

"I really don't get this game Steven. Why would losing a sponge result in the loss of two turns? Can't you just go out and buy a new one?" Peridot mused. "This game makes no sense..."

Steven was playing with one of his many boardgames with Jasper and Peridot while waiting for Lapis to complete a patrol.

"Uh-uh Peridot, you have to get your sponge out. Besides, didn't you get the extra soapy one?" Jasper said as she picked up another card. She was surprisingly willing to play the game. "Let's see…" The gem read the card quietly to herself. "Peri, I get to take one of your ingredients. Got any carrots?"

Peridot grumbled and slid a card over. "I needed that for the rest of my soup!" She scowled at Jasper's grinning face. "And don't call me Peri!"

"My turn!" Steven said. He picked up a card. "Yes! My Breakfast Buffet is complete!" He slapped his cards down and moved his figure all the way to the end of the board. "I win! This kitchen has been cleaned up!"

Jasper's annoyance showed on her face, but she forced a "Good job Steven" between her teeth. Peridot openly congratulated him while admitting she didn't have a clue what she was doing.

Something suddenly flew into the house through Steven's open window.

A bird made out of water perched on the couch. "Done yet?" It asked in Lapis' voice with a hint of amusement. It wasn't everyday that you got to see the ultimate quartz get angry over a boardgame.

Jasper coughed and stood up. "Yeah. Seen anything?"

The bird playfully cocked its head. "You know if I didn't I would've come straight back." Jasper gave a warning look at the bird. It ruffled its water-y feathers. "Fine. There wasn't much. There might be a gem monster wandering around, but it's in the mountains and nowhere near any human settlements. So should we-" The bird suddenly cut itself off.

"Lapis?" Jasper asked. The bird opened its beak. "I'm seeing something… looks like a rock coming from space. Something seems off about it, like... I don't know what, but meet me on the beach of the next closest island from Mask Island."

With that, the bird collapsed into water, soaking the couch. The gems looked at one another. "To the next island from Mask Island then." Jasper announced.

* * *

Jasper climbed out of the ocean with Steven on her shoulders.

The orange gem normally would've walked straight through at the bottom but Steven couldn't swim that far, so she ended up having to carry him.

"Whew…" Jasper said. "That was a good workout. Think you can handle the rest?" She let Steven drop to the ground. Peridot walked up to them, completely soaked. She shook herself out like a dog, mumbling about potential damage her robotic limbs could've suffered from being splashed by salty waves. "Let's go find Lapis."

Jasper pointed to the left. "I think we've found her already." A small blob of water was hovering right over the area. As they watched, the blob shaped itself into a bow and arrow. The water bow was drawn back and the arrow leapt away into the sky. In the distance, an odd-looking red circle was slowly getting bigger.

They hurried to Lapis. The water gem let the blob of water fall out of the sky as she greeted her teammates. "So, what do you think that thing is?" She asked.

Jasper squinted. "A rock?" She said. "A meteor at best. Why didn't you just fly up there or pull the ocean up there?"

Lapis scoffed. "Would you go near an unknown type of rock that came from space?" _That most likely came from Homeworld?_ The unspoken words rang an alarm. "Guess not." Jasper huffed.

"Exactly. And I'm hoping whatever it is won't mess with my hydrokinesis. You don't want gallons of water falling near the shore at the same time. Trust me, I've sunk islands that way." They turned their attention back onto the meteor, which was starting to look less like a rock.

"Wait! Isn't that?!" Peridot gasped. "It's a Homeworld ship! This seems to be a relatively ancient model, but it's from Homeworld!" Jasper growled and she summoned her helmet. "If they think they can just come back here…"

"Jasper wait!" Peridot said. "That's a Homeworld ship, and there's probably Homeworld gems with Homeworld tech inside! You know how strong Homeworld was before, think of 5000 years worth of technological advancement!" Jasper paused and let her helmet dissipate.

Peridot turned to Lapis. "If the water is close enough to the ocean level, I'm assuming any problems would not result in the sinking of this island, right?" Lapis nodded, already understanding the plan.

Peridot pulled Steven and Jasper behind a large rock and watched Lapis raise two huge water hands out of the waves. The red ship was hurtling closer and closer, almost in range. Just 100 meters… 50… 20...

At the last possible moment, the ship threw itself to the side and swerved around the grasping water.

It crashed with a huge sand cloud on the other end of the beach. "What?!" Jasper shouted. She took off running toward the crash site. "Wait Jasper!" screamed Peridot. She exchanged a look with Lapis and they ran after their teammate.

By the time they arrived, Jasper was already hiding behind a rock. Past her, they could see the red spaceship, its impact having dug a deep glassy trench along the beach. A round hatch on top of the ship opened up.

A familiar pale hand reached out of the opening. Pearl looked around her. She sighed and climbed out of the ship. She was still wearing the visor she had the first time they saw her, but now her spacesuit was replaced with a light blue sleeveless top with a sash around her waist. A small yellow star was in the center of her outfit, bearing uncanny resemblance to the one Peridot had on her outfit.

Another gem climbed out after Pearl. She was at least a head taller, with magenta skin and a square-shaped afro. A shiny visor hid her eyes, reflecting odd blue and red light. As the unknown gem got out, they caught a glimpse of two gems in her palms. "A fusion." Peridot whispered.

A third gem poked her head out of the hatch. She had a long, messy mane of white hair and purple skin. She was much shorter compared to her companions. A vivid purple gem was set in the center of her chest, partially hidden by a black t-shirt.

The purple gem catapulted herself out of the ship and landed on the beach, spraying Pearl with sand. "Amethyst please!" Pearl snapped. "We don't want this to end up like-" The white gem cut herself off with a gulp.

"Garnet, are you sure we made the right choice?" Pearl turned to the fusion, clearly trying to pretend the last three seconds didn't happen.

Amethyst simply shrugged. She suddenly looked over at the gems. Jasper growled as she started to run toward them, but the purple gem stopped just short, staring curiously at a crab.

A moment later, her gem began to glow, and her form shrunk down. A purple replica of the crab scuttled across the rock. Amethyst clacked her pincers together and chased the original crab around the stone.

Jasper turned to her team. "I don't know what they're doing, but Homeworld must truly think this planet is worthless if they're sending pearls and defective runts to take it." She growled.

Lapis clenched her fist. "Homeworld will _not_ touch this planet!" Lapis surveyed the three foreign gems. "We should attack them before they try anything." Jasper nodded. The two gems scurried out from behind the rock and ambushed Amethyst while Steven just looked on confused.

"What's happening? What are they doing?" He asked Peridot. The green gem just shook her head. "Ask questions later." She said as the unmistakable sound of a gem getting poofed sounded.

Steven gasped in shock when he saw a purple gem in the palm of Jasper's hand. Yelling brought their attention to the other invaders. Both Garnet and Pearl had noticed the commotion. A pair of gauntlets had materialized around Garnet's hands. Pearl was noticeably angry as her gem glowed and she shot them a defiant look.

Jasper growled as her helmet appeared, ready to fight. Lapis had her wings out and an ice sword in her grip.

Peridot swallowed. "This won't end well." She muttered as she gently lead Steven behind their battle-ready teammates.

 **Cliffhanger-ish because why not? And heck yeah, the two sides are ready to brawl! Stay tuned for the next chapter, because these two sides are going to clash pretty violently.**

 **Don't forget to Read, Rate n' Review!**


	10. The Fight

**I really wanted to update again cuz it's Christmas (well, that days after Christmas, don't wanna get lost in the updating rush). But this will only be a holiday thing, don't go expecting updates like this all the time.**

 **Last chapter, the in-show Crystal Gems have landed on Earth. Jasper, Lapis and Peridot don't take that too well, while poor, peace-loving Steven is completely confused.**

 **Enjoy!**

Jasper growled and rolled into one of her fiery balls. She hurtled forward, towards Garnet. The fusion gem jumped forward and met her in the middle. The collision was powerful enough to make a small crater in the ground, and the two gems wasted no time going for each other's throats.

Gauntlets pounding against helmets echoed along the beach as Lapis readied her sword and flew toward Pearl, aiming to run the pale gem right through. To her surprise, Pearl's gem began glowing.

The gem reached up and pulled out a pearlescent spear with a neon blue blade. She brandished it in front of her with a skill that could only come from years of practice.

Lapis' eyes widened. "What the-?" She cut her charge and her sentence short, flying upwards to avoid getting impaled. The ice sword in her grip melted and solidified into a replica of Pearl's spear. "What in the world?" She yelled. Lapis stared in shock as energy gathered at the tip of Pearl's spear. She ducked to the side as blast after blast tore into the air.

Steven turned to Peridot. "What are they doing? Why's everyone fighting?" The gem didn't get a chance to answer. She dove to the side, Steven securely hugged to her chest, as Garnet came tumbling toward them, with Jasper dashing after her.

Peridot dropped Steven to the side. "Stay here." She ordered. Peridot went tearing off in the direction of Jasper, calling said gem's name out worriedly. More than once Jasper had over-exerted herself during fighting...

Steven looked at the ongoing fights. "But-" A glow caught the corner of his eye.

Amethyst's gem levitated into the air. White light burst from her gem and solidified. The newly formed gem landed on the beach. "What happened?" Her gaze hardened at the fighting gems. Incomprehensible mutterling spilled from her mouth as she ran past Steven and joined the fight.

Steven watched as Amethyst pulled a whip, studded with what could only be amethyst's, from her gem and lassoed Peridot away from Garnet, tossing her into a clump of rocks.

He didn't want to fight, and he didn't like seeing his guardians fighting other gems.

"Please stop fighting!" He called uselessly. Jasper turned to look at him, but in that split second Garnet's gauntlet hit her in the jaw. Jasper's head snapped backward as she tumbled through the sand again.

Peridot had also gotten distracted by Steven's voice, and she let out a _oof_ as Amethyst tackled her out of the air. She blasted the purple gem off, but Amethyst was quick to lasso Peridot again.

The whip wrapped itself around the green gem, trapping her in place. A stray white blast from Pearl hit Peridot straight on, and a cloud of smoke appeared in the air.

A familiar green gem fell out of the sky. "NOOOO!" Steven screamed. He rushed toward his fallen guardian.

Steven fell to his knees in front of the triangular green gem sticking out of the sand. A set of metallic limbs also fell from the sky and were littered around the gem, but right now he didn't care.

Steven wrapped his fingers around the gem. "Peridot..." He sniffed. Steven raised his head to see Amethyst joining the fight against Jasper, with the orange gem slowly getting overpowered. Lapis and Pearl were locked in a fierce spear fight, but Lapis was noticeably tired.

He ran toward Lapis as her weapon was knocked out of her hand and Pearl raised her spear to deliver the final blow. Steven jumped in front of the downward swing defiantly, and his shield appeared in front of his outstretched hands.

The blade hit the shield with a resounding clang. Pearl gasped, horrified by the pink shield that beared the emblem of Rose Quartz. She hardly had the time to register what she was seeing before the shield was flung at her.

The pale gem _oofed_ as she got knocked backward, and her spear disappeared from her side.

Steven panted and he turned just as Jasper came flying toward him.

A second shield appeared by his side and managed to stop the quartz soldier from crashing into and possibly crushing him. Jasper grunted angrily. "Well that's just a tad bit unfair. 3 against 1…" She panted heavily, but got up and faced her opponents.

A huge _whooshing_ sound caught their attention.

Lapis was standing next to the ocean, and it was considerably drained. A huge, imposing column of water stretched so high into the sky that Steven couldn't see the top.

"Steven." Jasper hissed. "Summon your bubble." The boy quickly complied, already guessing what was going to happen, and formed a pink bubble around him and Jasper.

Lapis closed her eyes and took a deep breath. The column of water fell from the sky. The other gems were shouting as ridiculously huge wave of water towered over the island.

A moment later, all Steven could see outside the bubble was an endless ocean blue. The island was gone, and Lapis was nowhere in sight. Just an endless stretch of blue, with Jasper comfortingly patting his head.

It seemed to take forever, but the bubble finally burst to the surface. The island really was gone, now sunken beneath the waves. A few distant dots on the horizon signaled the other islands.

Lapis flew down to them, landing on the bubble. She sighed. "I hope I never have to do that again." She said. The gem sat down, clenching and unclenching her hand. "Sinking another island… I wonder how much destruction I've caused for the creatures living there?"

Gentle waves pushed against the bubble, carefully nudging it in the direction of Mask Island and the direction of home.

Steven stared down at the green gem he still had cradled in his hands. "Peridot…" He whispered. Jasper's hand patted his shoulder. It brought little comfort.

He looked back up at Lapis. She was facing toward the direction of the former island. "They got away." She sighed again.

"Not all of them."

"What?" Lapis looked down at Jasper. Only now did either Steven or Lapis realize that Jasper had something clutched in her hands. A purple gem.

"The other two are out there, but we got Amethyst." Jasper said, but there wasn't any victory in her voice.

Gems were coming to Earth. There was no other explanation, other than they were Homeworld gems. And that could only mean that Homeworld had their sights on Earth again, and this time the Crystal Gems didn't have vast numbers to defend it.

The rest of the trip was spent in silence.

 **And with that, we finish up the fight. Whew, one entire chapter dedicated to fighting. Amethyst got captured, and Peridot just lost her limb enhancers. They're somewhere under the ocean now, and now she's that adorable little dorito.  
** **A little note, Peridot has been solely relying on her enhancers up until this point. She does not know about her ferrokinesis because in all the 5000 years she spent on Earth, not one moment did she not have her limb enhancers, so she never explored any other possible fighting abilities she had.**

 **Don't forget to Read, Rate n' Review!**


	11. Amethyst

**Yeesh, this took a while… but hey, we're back! My first update of 2017! Last chapter, a huge fight happened, Lapis sunk an island and Amy got captured. The next few chapters are going to focus on Amethyst, so be excited for that.  
** **Enjoy!**

A soft glow filled the room. Steven looked up, eager. Both of the gems, one triangular, green and flat, the other a faceted purple gem with a silver ring, were sitting on blankets on the coffee table. Steven was just laying on his bed upstairs, bored out of his mind but wanting to be there when Peridot reformed.

As for Amethyst, he wasn't really sure what his emotions would be when she reformed. After all, they did just have a big fight and poof her twice. He doubted he was going to be met with friendly smiles.

Steven peered down from his loft. To his disappointment, the green gem was still tucked into it's blankets. That could only mean…

The purple gem was levitating, like before. Steven could only watch as Amethyst reformed. If she attacked, Steven didn't know how well he could defend himself. His control over summoning his shield was still unpredictable, and his bubble only worked half the time (mostly when he didn't want it to). Not to mention the remaining gems were out on a mission.

Amethyst finished her reformation and landed on the coffee table. This time, her black shirt was replaced by a white one, and her pants were black. She looked around herself curiously.

Steven slowly crept down the stairs, trying not to give himself away. Amethyst suddenly turned around and they locked eyes. For a long moment, they both just stared at each other.

"Uhh… hi. My name is Steven." Steven said awkwardly. He walked down the rest of the steps. Amethyst hopped down from the table.

"Amethyst." She said just as another glow filled the room.

They both turned to see Peridot's gem. The green gem emerged, but this time, she looked very different. For one, she was much, much shorter.

Peridot stared at them. She made a noise between a shriek and a shout and thrust one of her now small arms toward Amethyst. Nothing happened.

She stared at them some more. Then she looked down at her arms. The reaction was instantaneous. "Wha- My limb enhancers! Where are my limb enhancers?" She screeched.

Steven stepped closer. "Oh my god… you were short this entire time?" He squealed, stars in his eyes. "You're so cute!"

Peridot put her hand on his mouth. "Please don't." She sighed. She looked at Amethyst, who was still awkwardly standing there. "Why isn't she restrained in any way or form?" Peridot asked, jerking a thumb over her shoulder.

"Oh, you mean Amethyst? Well, she just reformed before you did, and Lapis and Jasper is out on a mission." Steven replied. Peridot groaned, mostly at his grammatical obliviousness.

"Well we should at least make sure she won't try anything." Peridot stated.

"You know I can hear you, right?" Amethyst said, a little annoyed. "And if I was going to attack, look." She spread her fingers. "No whip." A harsher glow filled the room as the warp pad activated. The two gems standing there immediately got in battle stances at the sight of Amethyst.

The purple gem groaned at the sight of them. "I'm really not looking forward to having my physical form destroyed again..."

Steven looked between each of the gems. The tension crackled in the air. "Uhh…"

Jasper was the first to move. She charged at Amethyst, drawing her fist back to punch. Amethyst reacted quickly, leaping over the orange gem's head and pulling two studded whips out of her gem simultaneously. As she backflipped, one of the whips lashed out and looped itself around the protruding part of Jasper's helmet. Jasper was stopped short as the whip jerked her backwards, causing her to fall.

Lapis tackled Amethyst from behind, and they both crashed through the window screen of the house. "Aww, we just had that installed!" Steven grumbled, running outside to see the fight with Peridot in tow.

Now next to the ocean, Lapis had created water clones of Amethyst. The clones surrounded the purple gem, outnumbering her 1 to 20, with more still emerging from the ocean. Amethyst growled as she looked around her, pulling another whip out.

The clones all had their own water whips out, and they charged forward. Amethyst lashed her whips out at the first row. Lapis had an astounding control over water, but between creating more clones and attacking through over 20 different bodies, she didn't have enough concentration or care to regenerate her fallen clones.

Amethyst lashed her whips again, but this time purple flames rippled along the length. She rolled into a purple, flaming, spin dash, mowing through a few clones and plowing straight into Lapis. All of the clones collapsed back into ordinary water.

At that moment, something large and orange leaped over Steven's head. Jasper practically roared as she hit the sand and took off toward the (once again) tumbling gems. She somehow managed to place herself between them and separate them.

Lapis looked disgruntled but not as hurt as she could've been from being hit by a rolling ball of fire. Amethyst was being held by her shirt, but thanks to Jasper's longer reach, her punches and kicks didn't come close. Her whips were gone, and she looked a little too tired and angry to summon more.

"Alright, enough of that. Peridot!" Jasper called up to the green gem. "Go make some kind of bindings or something. I'm not going to hold her all day."

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, Amethyst sulkily slid to the wooden floor of the house. A dark purple cord-like material, similar to Amethyst's whips, was wrapped securely around her chest. The other end was tied to the wooden support beam next to the kitchen counter.

It didn't take long for Peridot to create something suitable. Actually getting Amethyst in it was a much harder challenge. It had taken all three of the gems to even try to get the cords around her, and twice someone had accidentally elbowed someone else in the face.

The support beam was heavily reinforced with a weird, glowing metal that had been found in Peridot's room. Despite threatening Amethyst of having the house possibly crash down if the beam was destroyed, the gems didn't want to take any chances.

With their 'prisoner' now secure, the gems returns to their regular duties. Lapis had hardly gone out even a minute before flying back herself with another gem monster to report.

"Can I come with you? Please?" Steven asked. Peridot shook her head. She was also staying behind thanks to having her limb enhancers under the ocean, but was now near obsessed with creating a replacement.

"Steven, we should have at least someone watching over _her_." Peridot jerked another thumb over her shoulder.

"I can still hear you!" Amethyst called from across the room. Only the top of her head could be seen behind the kitchen counter.

Peridot rolled her eyes and stomped into her room.

Lapis gave a little salute to Steven as they warped away to fight whatever gem monster that needed fighting.

Now alone in the house with a potentially hostile gem, Steven sighed. He wasn't sure what he wanted to do. He looked over to where Amethyst was sulking. He didn't need to see her face to tell that she was upset.

Steven looked up to his bedroom and tv. Play video games? No, all he could do was grind or redo past levels. He looked harder. Watch TV? No, Crying Breakfast Friends and all the other good shows were on a hiatus. It was killing him mentally, but everyone needed a break eventually.

His gaze dropped to his small storage of boardgames. No, it wasn't like he had anyone to play with. Except Amethyst, but she didn't seem to be in the mood to.

He looked around him, hand on his chin. Steven just didn't have anything to do. His stomach growled, making his decision for him. Well, he could eat.

Steven considered eating fry bits, but that meant leaving the house and Amethyst unattended. The chances of Peridot coming out of her room were basically zero. Amethyst could tear down the whole house and she wouldn't even hear it. Peridot could be unnecessarily stubborn at times.

Steven opened the fridge and peered inside. There wasn't much left, but Steven made do with what he had.

Amethyst lifted her head at the sound of Steven eating. He smeared another piece of toast with jelly when he caught Amethyst looking at him.

"Uhh. Do you... want some?" He asked the purple gem. Amethyst blinked at him, then slowly nodded her head. She took the toast from him and pretty much shoved the entire thing into her mouth. She looked back at him. "Got anymore?" She mumbled, looking ashamed of asking.

Steven gasped. "You like to eat? That's so cool! The gem's never do that! Well, Lapis does sometimes and Peridot once ate a fry (boy, that didn't go well), but this is so cool! What else do you like to do?"

Amethyst tugged at the cords tied around her. "How about untying me from this?"

Steven shook his head. "I can't. I'm sorry." The boy brightened up. "But what else do you like to do?"

Amethyst's gem started to glow in reply. Steven flinched back, thinking she was going to summon a whip, but realized it was impossible since the cords were directly over her gem. Instead, Amethyst's entire form turned into light and shapeshifted.

Amethyst turned into a small cat. To her slight disappointment, the cords had shifted with her and now looked more like a leash in this form.

"Cool!" Steven got on his knees and crawled toward her. He lifted a hand, then hesitated. "Can I pet you?" Amethyst meowed, then promptly sat on him. Steven laughed and ran his fingers through her soft fur.

"So, what else do you want to eat?" He asked her. Amethyst-cat shrugged. "What else have you got?" Steven got up and opened one of the cabinets. "Chaaaaps!" He announced, pulling out a bag. He ripped it open with a tear and tossed one of the chips to Amethyst. She jumped into the air gracefully and caught the chip in her mouth, only to jump too far and have the leash pull her back.

In surprise, Amethyst shapeshifted back to her original form. "Stupid cord…" She muttered under her breath. "Hey, it's alright." Steven sat down next to her. "Want another chip?"

Amethyst took the chip half-heartedly. She reached up and tugged at the cord subconsciously with her other hand.

They sat in silence for a while. After a moment, Steven felt Amethyst lean against him. The gem sighed as she curled up, still tugging at the cords. She gave a start when a warm hand pulled her a little closer in a small hug, but relaxed as they just sat there, waiting.

 **Er, don't go thinking I'm shipping anyone in this fic. This fic, with the exception of Stevonnie and canon, will be ship-free. And I'm extending this into a two-parter, the next part is a little heavier and just doesn't fit right.**

 **Remember to Read, Rate, n' Review!**


	12. Amethyst (Part 2)

**The entire fandom was freaking out over the accidental nuke. So many characters introduced, Blue D finally got a voice AND new gem type! Ah, to have episodes…  
** **Last chapter, Amethyst and Steven sorta hung-out. Steven found out Amethyst likes to eat things and shapeshift, and now they're a little closer.  
** **Enjoy!**

Jasper grunted as she brushed her shoulders off as they stepped onto the warp pad. The mission had involved fighting a monster in a mud pit, and Lapis ended up taking flight when wallowing in mud proved tricky. Jasper did not have the luxury of wings, so she had to take down the monster while being completely covered in mud.

"Steven?" Lapis called as the light of the warp pad faded away. "We're back!" She turned to see a strange sight.

Amethyst was shapeshifted into a wolf. Steven sat on the floor in front of her, laughing and clapping. "Do more!" He urged her on.

As she watched, Amethyst turned into a seal, then a bird, then a mimic of Steven.

"What is going on?" Lapis muttered to Jasper. The orange gem shrugged. "I don't know, but I don't like the idea of Amethyst being close to Steven." She seemed calm enough, but having spent the last 5000 years with the gem taught Lapis that Jasper was a boiling mass of emotions inside.

Without warning, Jasper jumped between the two. She plastered a fake smile on her face. "Hey Steven!" He looked up at the orange gem. "Hey, you're back! Did you bring me anything?" He asked excitedly.

Jasper handed him a shard of rock that had come from a hole when she was thrown into a cliff wall. "Cool, a rock!" Steven said. As he looked at it, he didn't notice Jasper lean threateningly over Amethyst.

"I don't know what you're up to," Jasper hissed at the purple gem, "but I am putting an end to it right here and now." Jasper grabbed at the cord tied around the wooden beam and it seemed to melt away in her hand as it unlatched itself from the wood.

"But-" Amethyst's words died in her throat when she saw the look on the bigger quartz's face. She sighed and let herself be dragged over to the Temple door.

Finally, Steven took notice. "Hey, where are you going? Jasper?" The gem said nothing as bright orange cracks spread from the top-left part of the door down to the right corner, and the two halves slid aside.

Steven stared after the two gems, even after the door had closed. He jumped when Lapis put a hand on his shoulder. "It's for your own-" The gem began, but Steven whipped around.

"But why?" He asked, his anger raising his voice. Before Lapis could say anything, the Temple door opened again.

Steven was hoping that it was Jasper, maybe he could've gotten more information out of her as well. Peridot stood there instead. "Is this a bad time…?" She asked nervously. Steven shook his head. "No, this is good. Get over here. I need you to answer some questions." At that, Peridot turned around and attempted to re-enter the Temple.

Lapis stood up and water flowed out of the sink. It dragged Peridot over to them. "You are not bailing on this." She stated as she dumped Peridot on the floor beside them. The green gem grumbled but stayed put.

Steven stared at the two of them. "Why are you acting so badly? She's a gem too. Isn't Amethyst like us?"

Lapis sighed and looked at Peridot. _This one is on you_ , Peridot's eyes said. "Steven… there's a lot you don't know about gems." Lapis started.

Steven cut in. "But why are you so mean to her? Gems shouldn't fight other gems." Lapis looked at Peridot again, then at the floor.

"We're… always fighting other gems. Those corrupted monsters we fight? They used to be regular gems, like us. But their minds have been torn, they're dangerous and wild. They don't know any better. So we keep them safe in bubbles, where they can't harm anyone. At least until we find a better solution."

Steven took in this information slowly. "But… what happened to them?" Lapis glanced over at Peridot. "You're better at explaining that sort of stuff." She hissed to the gem. "Help me out here!"

Peridot gulped as Steven turned his gaze to her. She shuffled her feet, then said "I think it would be easier if we showed you."

* * *

The two gems and the hybrid looked around them as the warp light dissipated.

An overgrown field of strawberries stretched out before them, and massive weapons that no normal gem or human could lift dotted the landscape.

Peridot sighed and put a hand on Steven's shoulder. "This was once the battlefield of the Gem War. It was here that your mother decided that she would defend Earth with everything she had, and it was here that the Rebellion won the war against Homeworld."

Steven nodded, then asked "What's Homeworld?" He noticed the two gems look uncomfortably at each other. "Look, don't try to pretend you don't know. Sometimes you don't realize it, but I've listened to the kind of conversations you've had before. And I know this 'Homeworld', whatever it is, it's the center of all that talk about monsters and fighting. I'm a Crystal Gem too. Can't you atleast try to be honest with me?"

Lapis nodded, closed her eyes, and steeled herself for what she was going to say next. "Homeworld is basically the gem empire. It's the home planet for thousands of other gems." She opened her eyes a crack and saw Steven's eyes get bigger.

"Yes, Steven, there are thousands of thousands of other gems," She barreled on before he said anything. "But Homeworld… they aren't like us. They don't care about the life of a planet, or the creatures that inhabit it. Steven, gems are a species made to conquer other planets. And when gems colonize a planet, the planet dies."

Unwanted flashbacks flew through her mind, and she clenched her fist. A hand gently tugged at her hand, and she opened her eyes. Steven looked ashamed, but he asked the question anyway.

"And you think Amethyst and the others… that they're Homeworld gems?" She nodded and felt more flashbacks bombard her. Lapis suddenly felt the need to get away from the battlefield. "Let's just… let's just go back home." She said and put a hand to her head.

* * *

Steven flopped onto his bed. He couldn't sleep. For the rest of the day, he thought about all the information the gems told him, and the thought couldn't stop nagging at him- was Amethyst really a bad gem?

She didn't seem all that bad. After Lapis had gone into her room, Steven pulled Peridot aside and asked a few more questions. The last he had checked, Amethyst didn't have the diamond symbols on her outfit that Peridot told him all Homeworld gems had.

He tossed and turned, his thoughts still swirling. His instincts still told him that Amethyst was a good gem. Surely she wouldn't do anything to harm him. Right?

Steven didn't know what to think anymore. With all this new information, his views on gems were turned upside down. He didn't know if he could trust Amethyst, and it tore him up inside because he had already bonded with her. Not to mention he promised to…

Steven rubbed his eyes and tried to clear his head. He should go to sleep. It wasn't that he wasn't tired, he was both physically and mentally exhausted. After ten minutes of tossing and turning, he finally fell into an uneasy sleep.

He opened his eyes, but he wasn't in his room. He wasn't really anywhere. There was just empty space around him.

Steven looked around, even though there wasn't anything to look at. "It's a dream." He said, stating the obvious.

He suddenly felt himself falling. Looking down, he saw something that looked stormy and dark. "Wait, no! I don't want to go there!" Steven called out, hoping he could control his dream. If anything, he fell faster.

Steven flinched as he fell through the stormy clouds and emerged into a chaotic scene. Taking in the sight before him, Steven hardly noticed that he was no longer falling, but was floating above the battlefield.

A massive amount of gems were swarming over each other, each with some kind of weapon. As Steven watched, he saw them clash brutally, and some of them even fused. Smoke and screams filled the air.

Is this… is this the Gem War? But then Steven realized something. Even though fire ravaged the field, he couldn't see any of the hills that circled the current battlefield, and the land itself was different.

Steven yelped when a sudden force pulled him out of the vision. He awoke in his own bed, his heart pounding.

He put a hand to his forehead and looked down at the glistening sweat.

"What was that?"

 **More cliffhangers! YAY. I feel like I'm addicted to them. Easiest way to end a chapter, not very satisfactory though. The next chapter will hopefully remedy that.  
** **Sorry about the coding problem for those of you who got the alerts quick, I don't know what happened. But thank you for telling me about it, because I actually don't read my own stories much beyond the drafts.  
** **Don't forget to Read, Rate n' Review!**


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